5^th December 2012

Rev Dr Max Champion at St John's UCA Mt Waverley Sunday 18 November 2012

Lessons - Psalm 145:8-13; Hebrews 10:11-14; Mark 13:1-10

'When you hear of wars and rumours of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. The good news must first be preached to all nations.' (Mark 13:10)

As he nears the cross Jesus speaks of turmoil ahead. The temple in Jerusalem, the centre of Israel's calling to worship God and so be a light to the nations, will be destroyed. And all nations will experience terrible natural disasters, international conflicts, disdain for human dignity and persecution.

Naturally, Jesus' alarmed followers want to know when these events will occur and, more urgently, when they will end. They want to be assured that, despite the 'gloom and doom' that hovers over human history and the community of faith, God's good purposes for all nations will come to fruition in the end.

We can identify with them to some extent. We have known personal tragedy.
We have seen the horrific effect of tyranny, famine, floods, tsunamis and earthquakes on vast numbers of people. We have heard harrowing stories of persecution of Christians in other parts of the world, the 20th Century infamously boasting the highest number of martyrs in history. In Australia we are not suffering the loss of a central Church (like the Jerusalem temple), but we do grieve over the diminishing influence of the Church in public affairs, the closure of local congregations and widespread hostility to orthodox Christian belief, both outside and within the Church.

At times of severe strife some folk become preoccupied with predictions of the end of history. On the basis of awful events taking place in their own lives or in world trouble spots (e.g. the Middle East), and with this passage in hand, they conclude that the 'end is nigh'. In every generation, people have expected the return of Christ on the evidence of the awful events that surround them.

This passage seems to provide them with the necessary proof. But they completely misread what Jesus says. He tells the disciples to expect that life will be tough! The occurrence of terrible things in the lives of individuals, families, communities, nations and churches does not suggest that history is about to end.

In fact, such events should alert us to the danger of being taken in by religious and political imposters. Either they will try to exploit our fears so as to offer us false comfort (v5), or pretend to be our friends in order to persecute us for disturbing the peace of the community and the Church (vv9,11ff). Such events should also alert us to our responsibility, in the midst of terrible conflict and suffering, to speak the word of hope (v10).

We have become used to thinking of Jesus as a friendly therapist who solves all our problems and always makes us positive and happy. It is a shock to find that he does not promise instant bliss or insider knowledge of the future. Instead, he speaks of the necessity of being 'aware' of what is happening in and around these troubling events. Disciples should not be 'alarmed' (v7). But they should also 'be wary' of charlatans (vv5,9).

Jesus' followers must be utterly realistic. There is no place for illusions! We can take no comfort from the naive belief that our religious or political ideals will bring peace and harmony to all nations. The constant presence of 'wars and rumours of wars' should save us from being fooled into thinking that we can end evil and suffering through education and goodwill.

Therefore we must be on our guard about religious and humanist programs that promise to fix our problems and calm our fears. The Christian community is not be taken in either by apocalyptic preachers or secular gurus announcing the immanent arrival of some messianic figure or other - self-proclaimed leaders of new faiths, new environmentalism or radical atheism.

Jesus' warning is plain: 'Take heed that no one leads you astray. (v5)' 'Do not go after charlatans. (Luke 21:8)' Do not be distracted from your vocation: 'The good news must first be proclaimed to all nations. (v10)'
In the centre of the storms that threaten to engulf hope, they are to announce to all and sundry that, in Christ crucified-and-risen, evil has met its match. They are to declare that in this event 'all nations' may be assured that the 'end' of history - the ultimate purpose of our existence - will be marked by the 'end' of terror and persecution.

In the light of this pledge, Jesus' disciples are called to live by hope. They are not to be 'alarmed' about the state of the world but to enact the Gospel in words-and-deeds. In the face of tragic and brutal events they are to 'beware' of becoming despondent or being swayed by the false hopes of imposters.

This does not mean that we should ignore evil and suffering and pretend that awful things do not matter. Living by hope in God's future means that we are stand with those who suffer and let others stand with us when we suffer. This is only possible because God, the Creator of all things, has triumphed over every form of evil in Jesus' life, death and resurrection.
He is the sole reason for having confidence in the end toward which history is headed.

Can we hear this word of hope today?

The magnitude of evil in the world makes us wary about the bold claim that a better world awaits. Indeed, we often wonder why a good, loving and all- powerful God does not bring the 'end' to such horrors now. Apart from acknowledging that our misuse of free will causes dreadful things to happen, Christians cannot satisfactorily explain why evil itself exists.

What we can and must say, in the light of God's self-revelation to the people of Israel and to the world in the person of Jesus, is that God's overarching purpose for human life is 'good' (Genesis 1:31), that God wants us to live in peace with him and each other, that God hates evil, that God has redeemed us from sin and that God shall restore us to our original purpose in the fullness of time.

In the midst of upheaval, we need to see what is happening now and throughout history, in the context of the creation, redemption and restoration of the whole creation. We need to see things in the light of the miracle of creation (at the beginning) and the miracle of grace (in the middle) and the miracle of a new heaven and new earth (at the end).

When we are preoccupied with our own small lives it is easy to overlook God's ultimate purpose for the world. But when we see our lives in the context of the over-arching meaning of history, we may live by hope that emboldens us to 'proclaim' God's good purposes in the midst of turmoil.
Christians are called to be peace-makers in places of conflict, to protest wherever men, women and children are dehumanised, to uphold the sanctity of life (from conception to death), to welcome strangers and outcasts, and more.

If we are confident in the future that God has already promised in Christ, we must speak against the many situations in our world that are hostile to God's good purposes. We must not let terrible events divert us from the task of preaching Christ crucified-and-risen as the one in whom hope for our tortured world has been enfleshed! It is not up to us when God's grand purpose for humanity comes to fruition. It is enough to 'proclaim' that God's power and love have been uniquely and decisively displayed in the costly-and-victorious life of Jesus Christ.

Seeing things in cosmic perspective does not lessen our grief at suffering and evil in the world. We are called to 'mourn with those who mourn' (Matthew 5:4), to 'hunger and thirst after righteousness' (Matthew 5:10) and to expect opposition (Matthew 5:11). But, because of Jesus Christ, we may freely and confidently involve ourselves in the broken and sinful world knowing that, despite the dread power of evil that now scars the earth, God in his own time shall restore all things to the perfection that has always been his will for humanity and the creation.

Often this is hard to believe! We may still wonder why such horrors take place and despair of finding a fully satisfactory 'explanation'. But, if we begin to see such things in the context of God's over-arching purpose for the world 'in Christ' - Christ crucified, risen and ascended - we will be glad to have the privilege of proclaiming the Gospel to all nations and leave the future to God.

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Rev Dr Max Champion is minister in the St John's Uniting Church, Mt Waverley, Victoria, Australia. Dr Champion is Chair of the Assembly of Confessing Congregations within the UCA.